Tag Archives: Carlos Beltran

One of the first things Omar Minaya said this morning on a conference call to announce his contract extension through 2012 (with club options for 2013 and 2014), was to admit something is wrong with the make-up of his team.

“There is something there, something missing, that the club needs to get over,” Minaya said.

Minaya singled out the bullpen as the area of main concern, but did not name and possible FA replacements.

“One of the top areas we need to address is the bullpen and the closer,” Minaya said. “There’s only a few guys in the game what we say can, ‘lock-out an inning,’ so we’ll have to look in the market place, or look internally, because for a championship team that is very important.”

To fill that void, and the projected starting pitching void without Pedro Martinez and Oliver Perez, Minaya said he would listen to trade offers for anyone, and that includes core players David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran.

Minaya called the trio, “winning players,” but added, “we owe it to ourselves to look at all areas. I’m going to be open-mined all winter.”

Minaya, however, isn’t shopping these three, and I got the impression this was GM clichespeak, in that all GM’s say they will listen to any proposals that could improve the team.

Minaya also said:

-Discussions are on-going on a contract extension for manager Jerry Manuel. It’s believed the Mets have a two-year deal on the table but Manuel is thinking three.

-The team is interested in bringing back Carlos Delgado, and has told his agent this.

-He’s interested in having Oliver Perez return and said he made progress.

-Said the team is waiting to complete its investigation and let the legal process take its course before making a decision on troubled reliever Ambiorix Burgos.

The Mets will announce a contract extension today for general manager Omar Minaya to run through the 2012 season. His current contract runs through 2009.

After Minaya’s deal is announced, the Mets will focus on an extension for manager Jerry Manuel who replaced Willie Randolph, June 17.

Minaya said he took responsibility for the Randolph administration, and although the firing was clumsy, he should receive kudos for making the move when it would have been easy to stay put and hope for the turnaround.

Manuel has the player’s endorsement. Said Carlos Beltran: “I believe he should be back. He’s a great man and he did everything possible.’’

In early June there was no way Carlos Delgado would return to the Mets. The team would undoubtedly give him a $4 million buyout as opposed to picking up his $12 million option.

Then he had a week in one afternoon at Yankee Stadium and never looked back. While the Mets floundered in September, Delgado sizzled, hitting .340 with eight homers and 22 RBI. He finished the season batting .271 with 38 homers and 115 RBI.

Those numbers warrant a return for 2009.

“I’d like to be back. I like this group of guys,” Delgado said. “I think they’re a great team. There’s a lot of talent here. In my stage, you don’t want to be bouncing around any more than you absolutely have to. The decision is in their hands.”

Since the Mets would pay Delgado $4 million regardless because of the buyout, it’s really only an $8 million investment they would be making. That’s not much in the grand scheme of things. The Mets have five days after the World Series to make a decision.

Delgado said he’d like to play several more years, but considering his off-year in 2007 and how long it took for him to get started this season, the Mets would be wise to make him earn the extension and not do anything until the end of 2009.

Should the Mets go the buyout route, there aren’t many appealing options in the free-agent market. Here’s what’s available:

Have been walking around the stands and listening to people. Mixed feelings. Shea has never been state-of-the-art, even from the beginning. But, it has been home to many of you. A place to escape a bad day, a play to dream, a place to shed tears, and most of all, a place to dream.

It’s always sad to say goodbye to a ballpark, because it is the site of so many memories. But, where blacktop will cover what is now the outfield. But, you can’t build over memories, just as you can’t build over dreams.

We say good bye to Shea Stadium today, but not really because there is still the dream of playoff baseball, and with it maybe more memories.

Now, wouldn’t that be something?

For you trivia buffs, here are the lineups, the answer to a future question.

Johan Santana came to New York with as much pressure on him as any other coming to this city. Santana more than did his job this afternoon, coming back on three days rest to throw 117 pitches in a 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins to keep alive the Mets’ season for at least another day.

“I made up my mind I was going to do it,” Santana said of the complete-game shutout. He said the chanting of his name by the crowd motivated him and he was as proud of this effort as any in his career.

As to why he wanted the ball, he said, “there was no tomorrow.”

Well, thanks to Santana, there is for the Mets. If you were at Shea today, tell us what you saw. If you watched on TV, tell us what you thought.